Sweet Revenge

Nancy Drew Files #61

by Carolyn Keene

Oakwood Inn's Chocolate Lover's Festival--held to raise money for the Tagley family's faltering inn--becomes the scene of attempted murder when TV star Brock Sawyer, the former boyfriend of Mrs. Tagley's daughter, bites into a tainted truffle

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Fiction, Childrens, Novels, Adventure, Mystery Thriller

160 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1991

About the author

Carolyn Keene is a writer pen name that was used by many different people- both men and women- over the years. The company that was the creator of the Nancy Drew series, the Stratemeyer Syndicate, hired a variety of writers. For Nancy Drew, the writers used the pseudonym Carolyn Keene to assure anonymity of the creator.

Edna and Harriet Stratemeyer inherited the company from their father Edward Stratemeyer. Edna contributed 10 plot outlines before passing the reins to her sister Harriet. It was Mildred Benson (aka: Mildred A. Wirt), who breathed such a feisty spirit into Nancy's character. Mildred wrote 23 of the original 30 Nancy Drew Mystery Stories®, including the first three. It was her characterization that helped make Nancy an instant hit. The Stratemeyer Syndicate's devotion to the series over the years under the reins of Harriet Stratemeyer Adams helped to keep the series alive and on store shelves for each succeeding generation of girls and boys. In 1959, Harriet, along with several writers, began a 25-year project to revise the earlier Carolyn Keene novels. The Nancy Drew books were condensed, racial stereotypes were removed, and the language was updated. In a few cases, outdated plots were completely rewritten.

Other writers of Nancy Drew volumes include Harriet herself, she wrote most of the series after Mildred quit writing for the Syndicate and in 1959 began a revision of the first 34 texts. The role of the writer of "Carolyn Keene" passed temporarily to Walter Karig who wrote three novels during the Great Depression. Also contributing to Nancy Drew's prolific existence were Leslie McFarlane, James Duncan Lawrence, Nancy Axelrod, Priscilla Doll, Charles Strong, Alma Sasse, Wilhelmina Rankin, George Waller Jr., and Margaret Scherf.

Reviews

[Eric Wood · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I liked the setting, the characters were interesting, and the mystery was also interesting. The chocolate foods in this book actually really made me hungry, so much that after taking a break from reading, I had to go and snack on some chocolate I had! Lol. The culprit wasn't obvious here and the author did a good job of not making them look obvious and making everyone look like the possible culprit. But I was a bit doubtful when the culprit at the end decides to stop trying to kill everyone and has a nice chat about how they did what they did and also didn't notice right away that someone was gone, going to call the police. That was a bit unbelievable. I also felt Nancy wasn't doing some things that she should have done to solve the mystery, like call some nearby pet shops that might have ants and ask who purchased some(ants were used for one of the pranks in this book) or ask some certain questions or fully investigate the suspects. I also felt some of Nancy's investigating near the end should have been done at the beginning or middle of the book and that probably the mystery would have been solved by then, but of course that would make for a short book. I also felt that it was a bit foolish of Nancy when she goes to meet the culprit alone without having a plan or anything if something goes wrong(which of course does go wrong!). Overall, this is a good book, I enjoyed it all the way through. 3 stars.

[K.L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The girls are at a chocolate festival/convention thing. Weird I know. Sabotage happens. Bess falls for the famous TV star... situation normal. Nothing special

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

These chocolate recipes sound disgusting.

[V. Arrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nancy Drew did the Poirot thing! Just reading everyone for filth in a locked drawing room! YESSS.

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars. This was goofy as hell but so fun. The ending was a let down though.

[Jazmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE BOOK IS VERY COOL

[Jeanette Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book over 14 years ago, but still everytimr I eat pancakes, I think about the chocolate ones in this book...

[Gwenn Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

Taking into account that this is 80's ya fiction, it wasn't so bad. But the ending was fairly awful. 2.5 stars

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

good book